There was gold and bronze medal success today for Ireland at the Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth, home of the London 2012 Olympics sailing competition.

Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern took 49er gold in a breakthrough performance for the duo who, in the process of securing their first international medal, beat numerous world and European medallists.

Going into today’s medal races the Irish duo had a six-point lead but could have been overtaken by any of the top 10 as three double point races were scheduled.

In the end they sealed victory in style, posting a third and a second respectively in the two races that were sailed, extending their outright lead.

Meanwhile, in the Laser Radial class Ireland had another medallist in the form of Annalise Murphy who took bronze. This was her third consecutive medal at a EUROSAF Sailing Cup having won gold at both the Italian Olympic Week and Delta Lloyd Regatta in May.

Murphy was one of five sailors in contention for the bronze medal during this afternoon’s medal race. Her Olympic rival Lijia Xu from China and Dongshuang Zhang, also from China, had already earned enough of a points lead to guarantee gold and silver.

But the odds were in Ireland’s favour as four of the five sailors vying for that final podium spot were Irish. Having been given the opportunity to sail in the Women’s Radial event at this regatta, some of the world’s top youth sailors including ISA Academy members Finn Lynch, Fionn Lyden and Seafra Guilfoyle proved their mettle.

The young Irish trio and Murphy battled it out against the UK’s Chloe Martin for the coveted medal in the final race with Muphy ultimately winning and claiming the bronze followed closely by Finn Lynch in second (fourth overall) and Fionn Lyden in third (fifth overall).

Both medal winning teams will have their sights set on bigger goals this season with World and European Championships still to come but the confidence medals bring will do their preparations no harm.

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